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As a massive franchise, Dragon Ball maintained its status as the father of shonen because of its uniqueness, single handedly creating the battle genre. Even with the occasional bumpy rides of Dragon Ball Z (mostly on the Buu Saga), it managed to have an interesting story with memorable moments, about interesting characters. And GT learned nothing from it.
Watching the show knowing beforehand that Akira Toriyama only managed the character designs, i was curious of how Toei would guide the story. Short answer; it had great potential, but failed hard in the execution. Leaving few redeeming qualities (one of them being the opening, the best in ... the series).

The story starts off showing everyone after the end of the original series, it's a great way to start, sure, but right after, the hunt for the black star dragon balls begins, and it's just a more mature morning kid's cartoon, almost as if capitalizing the name of Dragon Ball just so its relevance doesn't die out after the original ended, just so it could putt and sell as much merchandising as possible.
The Baby saga is where things start to kick it, it has an overarching plot, so the episode by episode ordeals are left out, but the rest of the story just feels like it wasn't planned out, with predictable writting and poor pacing.
In everyway it feels like a downgrade in terms of story; Goku being a child, feels like his progression was haulted with no believable purpose (a character that we are shown every step of his growth from the beginning), the rest of the cast are just a shadow of their former self, only for Goku to safe. Even the SS4 transformation is the least memorable one story wise, no build up like SS1 or SS2 Gohan. The action is pretty generic, with no interesting interactions between the characters.

The animation is good, receveing an upgrade, with a more defined line quality and animation. The quality manages to maintain the same throughout, and the characters design are passable, except for SS4, it has a great design, being the only way it stands out from the previous Super Saiyan transformations

Character wise, the main trio (Goku, Pan and Trunks) have an interesting dinamic, but nothing really hits home. Especialy Pan, she doesn't have any growth and only causes trouble, we are left expecting in many occasions her moment to shine but it never shows up. Trunks is no better, just forgettable throughout, and overshadowed in the end by literally everyone else.

Overall, it feels like a show trying to be and feel like Dragon Ball but not achieving it. Fights and transformations don't cut it, i was not invested because nothing really meant anything, there were no stakes involved in most of the fights, the few good scenes relied on nostalgia (the ending comes to mind), and don't get me wrong, it is a good ending and a fitting one, but the way it reached that point was forgettable and a chore to watch.

I wanted to read it for quite some time, and as it finished serialization i was really hyped going in. Prison School is an example of a genuine fun time full of hilarious and outrageous moments, that unfortunately turned into a drag to read.
Simply, everything past chapter 178 goes downhill; the pacing, the development of some characters are just put to a stand, and the problem with this, is that you slowly start to lose any kind of concern or care you had with them. But you must remember the nature of the manga, story telling through over the top situations.

And in ... the end it just turned into a romance in a higschool setting with no payoff. That ending... with 277 chapters invested...its just not worth it. I wished it kept the pacing of the early chapters or actually having a decent closure.

Shiki is a great manga because it keeps the stakes personal.

A series of deaths occur in a small traditional japanese village, Sotoba, and it all started after a certain family inhabited an abandoned mansion, it turns out they are vampires. It's a bit slow paced at the beginning, because of its focus on world building, but the mistery is ever present, and pays off in the end. The struggle of the village is all the more enjoyable because of its small scale, we get to know everyone and every nook and cranny (with details about the national road, the temples, houses) and we are more ... invested in the story because of that. Another great aspect it achieves, is the suspense in which it slowly builds upon, the bigger picture is never clear and as the story progresses, every character intertwines and the conflict tightens. It brings up numerous memorable and shocking scenes and leaves no plot points loose.

The diverse personalities of the characters responding to the terror in different ways makes it all interesting. We have two factions, the villagers who try to understand what is happening, trying to survive; and the Shiki, a group of undead who are responsible for the misery of the vilage, and we care about the fight that happens with both, who will survive and be the dominant species. Human nature is a constant theme, the fear of not being the dominant species and the struggle for survival, keeps us questioning who is truly achieving the right thing.

The art conveys the story in an unique and haunting way. I struggled to enjoy it and didn't find me staring at a page admiring the drawings, just finished reading and went to the next page. But it sets the atmosphere and suits the horror theme. The lack of detail is made up for with the shading and facial expressions (you truly feel their fear and discomfort). All the characters have exaggerated traits that keep them unique and memorable.

I was not expecting to be so engaged, and was quite surprised about how it told a classic concept such as vampires, the events are well thought out and are so intriguing, plus you are fully invested in the characters, their fate, and the fate of the village that you keep on reading.

This space thriller about the survival of a group of students is sure to make you keep reading until the end!

The premise alone captures your atention, a sci-fi adventure with a bunch of highschool teenagers, where they have to manage survival by themselves. But as the story goes, a bunch of questions pop up, and by the end a huge development is unveiled, and it does a tremendous job setting up and capturing your desire to keep reading! The only problem with it, is that the pacing was so fast, lacking some more interactions between the crew.

The diverse cast had a great developement, the interactions ... between them feel genuine, as it's about survival and trust is important, despise that their optimist is ever present, there should have been more of a desperate feeling in the air sometimes. They all have an important involvement in the story.

The art is very clean and easy to look at, while having detail. It also demonstrates the emotions and sets apart all of the characters as unique.

It was a great ride from beginning to end, never deviating from the story it set its goal to.

This continuation just has too much of a convoluted and messy story to really stand at the same ground as the first season.

Starting right where we left of, the story is centered around Akane, new and returning members of Division 1, trying to apply justice in the distopian Japan where Sybil reigns as it avaluates a persons capability of becoming a latent criminal. This time around, we have our antagonist, Kamui, who wants to prove that the sistem is not perfect, and confronts the Public Safety Bureau, with his various schemes, all while we progressively learn various plot points about Sybil, and the cast. ... The problem is the repetition of the main arc plot, all this has been done... the diference is that there's a much more focused approach, and with a reduced number of episodes it doesn't allow for much world or character building.

The animation is fenomenal, it's really gripping to watch. All the effects, many color contrasts, with the technologic vibe and dark tones, relating to the type of story and world we are settled in. Overall this and the sound are the best aspect of this second season.

The characters are another problem, especially Kamui, first he is introduced as a poor man's Makishima, but as the story unfolds, he develops a lot more, and his backstory and goals help in that matter, but they are not as solid as Makishima's. Akane is the only real character who has a development and personality, maturing since the first season and dealing with the various problems she encounters. But the missing part is that there isn't really any strong connection between her and the antagonist, any real tension between morals like Makishima and Kogami and even her in S1. And the rest of Division 1 is really a miss, since they are not as developed, only Tougane and while promissing, his integration in the story isn't that good.

It started well enough, and you can say it is extremely well paced, it was gripping, but the problems emerging were to many that, while good to stand on it's own, doesn't really compare to the brilliant first season, not progressing in any way in its conclusion, serving as a good action oriented sci-fi with a confusing plot embedded.

Kamisama no Iutoori is an underrated manga that one would read only by sheer luck, it's not well known but it's better than most popular manga out there.
Having discovered the manga by recommendation, i would never cross paths with this unique and bizarre take on the survival genre. You are not prepared for what the manga brings to the table, but you'll enjoy it more going in blind. So if you are in doubt about reading it, let this review clear some things up.

The story is what keeps you going, a high school survival manga with just enough weird elements that grabs your attention. A ... cautious note, is that the genre leaves a different taste for everyone, some like the thrill and the fantasy of being in that situation, an escapade to the story that's being told. Others feel its just a bizarre action oriented fest.
With just 21 chapters you are going to breeze through it, it doesn't overstay its welcome, and every chapter leaves you pumped to read more, it's fast paced, but not rushed per say. The weakest part is probably the explanation for why the games are occuring, it's left ambiguous, but it's not a huge problem, keeping in mind that a sequel exists (that's not as good) and so some questions are left out unanswered.

The art is good, not that special at first but as you go on it gets much better. Akeji Fujimura's art is really intense as he polishes his style later on, and it suits the dark tone of the series.

The characters are probably the strongest aspect, the thrill and fear for what is going to happen to them are a selling point, because they are all interesting and everyone has a distinct personality. The dynamic between Shun and the rest of the cast is phenomenal, the only thing that lacks is more development, but for the manga's length we get a vast cast that's different enough that keeps things interesting.

Overall this is a fantastic ride from beginning to end, and for a survival manga it doesn't hold your hand and isn't playing it safe. Bizarre enough to keep your attention and the right amount of chapters so it doesn't drag on. The ending is also well executed and keeps you hyped for what's coming next, so don't worry about being disappointed in the end.

Kamisama no Iutoori Ni is a sequel that lacks the thrill of survival of its prequel, and the reason for that is because it turned into a more Shounen battle manga.

Focusing on those students that skipped school while the games were occurring, the story begins at the same time as the previous one. It has its highs and lows, but the games here are not that interesting, there is no sense of worry or fear of what's going to happen, as most of it plays out just as you'd expect or it's just unpredictable for the sake of it, with no real purpose. The story ... went a bit nuts with the whole Tomfoolery and Cops/ Robbers arc, but the final arc is definitely the high point, having what was missing for the most part in the early arcs, the thrill.

The art is just amazing and a great leap in terms of skills compared to the prequel, the last 50 or so chapters are really eye candy.

The characters are a hit or miss for the most part, the main character Akashi is just not as interesting as Shun, but the chemistry he has with the rest of the cast is something worth appreciating. My main complaint is that the characters from the prequel, are just forgotten... excluding Shun and Amaya and maybe Akimoto, the rest don't really do anything, maybe it's because the number of characters introduced where huge, but they were wasted, and that's a shame.

Overall the series is a fun read, but i did miss for the most part the serious tone of its prequel.